President Donald Trump’s address from the White House on Wednesday evening was – despite some speculation beforehand – largely a rehash of what he has been saying for days about the Iran war.
In a 20-minute primetime speech, he said the “core strategic objectives” of the US-Israeli military operation were “nearing completion” after a month of war and projected it would last another two to three weeks.
There were the usual threats against Iran, too, including a repeated pledge to bomb the country “back to the stone age”.
If you were to copy and paste his posts on Truth Social over the last week or so, you would not be far off this address to the nation.
The president did attempt to persuade Americans of the merits of this war. There is good reason for that, as polls suggest a consistent majority of voters disapprove of the military operation he launched on 28 February.
Trump urged Americans to see this war as an “investment” in their future, and suggested it was nothing compared to other conflicts over the past century or more in which the US has ended up being involved for far longer.
But there was little here for those hoping for clear answers on where this war is heading or potential exit ramps for the US. There were glaring omissions which leave a plethora of questions unanswered.
Firstly, Israel is still attacking Iran and taking incoming drone and missile attacks – including earlier on Wednesday in Tel Aviv just hours before the beginning of Passover.
A key question is whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government agrees with the timetable of a few more weeks that was provided by Trump. We simply do not know at this point in time.
Secondly, what happened to the 15-point peace plan the White House was urging Iran to accept just days ago? There was no mention of it by Trump on Wednesday night. Is Washington now ditching many of those demands, including the retrieval of its stockpile of enriched uranium?
Former Nato ambassador: ‘Lack of clarity’ in Trump’s war aims
The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s busiest oil shipping channels which has been effectively closed off by Iran, is a central issue in this conflict.
The president, however, does not appear to have a settled view on it.
One moment he is demanding Iran allow tankers through, and the next he is telling allies to go and sort it out for themselves. “Go to the strait and just take it, protect it, use it for yourselves,” he said on Wednesday. “The hard part is done, so it should be easy.”
He then simply said, without expanding further, that the strait would reopen “naturally” when the war was over. That is unlikely to reassure those concerned about oil prices.
Trump’s pointed criticism of some allies – he said at one point that they should “build up some delayed courage” and lead an operation to reopen the strait – came after he floated the idea of pulling out of the Nato military alliance in an interview earlier on Wednesday.
But that rhetoric was completely absent from this speech, despite briefings suggesting it would be a key part of his words tonight.
Another key unanswered question relates to ground troops. What are the thousands of marines and paratroopers actually going to be doing in the region as they continue to arrive?
The truth is that after this national address, we are really none the wiser about what the president sees as victory in this war.
And given the often conflicting nature of his statements from one day to the next, everything could change at any time.
Meanwhile, the average price of gas in the US has topped $4 for the first time in nearly four years and the president’s approval ratings are cratering, just months before the crucial midterm elections which will determine control of Congress.
